REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- Bali Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) will crack down on foreign tour guides who are illegally operating in the province. Those foreigners have violated the law and their stay permits, the chief I Made Sukadana said here on Monday.

"All foreign nationals who illegally work in the country will be charged by the Bali Province Regulation No.5 Year 2016 on Tourism. This rule has stated that foreigners are not allowed to work as tour guides in Bali," Sukadana stated in Denpasar.

Hence, to enforce the law, Sukadana stated that the agency will oversee all tour agents and operators in Bali. "We will intensify our surveillance, as there are some reports on few agents having hired unlicensed and foreign tour guides," Sukadana stressed.

The public order agency, he noted, has found some undocumented foreign tour guides in the province, and they have been handed over to the Immigration Office for further probe.

Sukadana remarked that the agency has also received reports on some Chinese nationals working as guides in the province. "We raided several areas, including Jimbaran, Badung, and later found 11 Chinese tour guides who allegedly violated their stay permits in the country," he noted.

These foreign nationals had rented a house in the South Bali area, Sukadana said. He added that all tour guides in Bali should carry an official license issued by the province's tourism office (KTTP).

On a different occasion, a Regional House of Representatives member, Anak Agung Ngurah Adhi Ardhana, revealed that he had received reports of some Chinese tour guides who were operating as photographers in Bali.

"I called on the tourism agency and other officials to crack down on these illegal tour guides, in accordance with the laws and province's regulations," he reiterated.